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Join the ServerThe three of them went to the living room.
The butler tremblingly served tea and then led all the servants in a hasty retreat from the scene.
A conversation of this level was not for them to overhear.
Horace picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then set it down in disgust.
“This tea isn’t even as good as the stuff in the Association.”
“Then go back to the Association to drink it,” Lia said, sitting opposite him.
“You didn’t travel all this way just to scrounge a cup of tea from me, did you?”
Horace glared at her.
He reached into his robes for a moment and pulled out a crystal ball, slamming it onto the table.
“See for yourself.”
Inside the crystal ball was a recorded image.
The image showed a massive mana monitoring dial; the needle was spinning frantically before finally bottoming out.
“Three days ago.”
Horace pointed at the crystal ball.
“I was in the lab, right at a critical step of a derivation, when this thing suddenly started an alarm.”
He looked at Lia, his expression becoming serious.
“That is the mana feedback end for the ‘Heart of the Guardian’.”
“I made that necklace myself; it stored about one-third of my total mana capacity at that time.”
“Under normal circumstances, even if you were hit by an Eighth-Circle spell, the most it would do is flash a red light.”
Horace leaned forward, his presence overwhelming.
“But that day, it nearly faced total destruction.”
“Ninety percent of the energy was drained in an instant.”
“This means the attack you suffered, or the environment you were in, had reached the intensity of the Ninth Circle.”
The old man’s eyes were as sharp as blades.
“Girl, what on earth did you do?”
“Don’t tell me you were doing an experiment and blew up your lab; an explosion of that level would level half of Leo City.”
Lia rubbed her nose.
“I didn’t do anything major.”
Lia avoided Horace’s gaze and looked at Klein beside her.
Klein was looking at the scenery outside the window, wearing a ‘I’m not involved’ expression.
‘Traitor,’ Lia cursed silently.
“We just… went on a bit of an adventure.”
“An adventure?” Horace sneered.
“Where did you go? Which layer of the Abyss? Or did you go straight to the Divine Kingdom?”
“It was right under Leo City,” Lia sighed.
Since the owner of the necklace had come knocking, there was no hiding it.
Besides, Horace was Ninth-Circle and well-versed in many things; he might know the origins of those people.
“We encountered… followers of the ‘Crying Moon’.”
Hearing that name, Horace’s expression changed.
“Crying Moon?” he repeated.
“Are you sure of the name?”
“Certain,” Lia nodded.
“The emblem is a weeping waning moon. They attempted to pull a certain existence into the mortal realm through a sacrifice.”
Horace fell silent.
His fingers tapped lightly against his knee, as if recalling some long-forgotten secret history.
“No wonder…” he murmured to himself.
“No wonder there was that level of energy fluctuation.”
He looked up at Lia.
“And then? How did you survive?”
“The necklace blocked the fatal blow.”
Lia pointed to her chest.
“And then, I threw a scroll.”
“A scroll?”
“Mm, Klein gave it to me.”
Lia pointed to the Klein beside her.
“Ninth-Circle: Geocore Blasting.”
Horace’s expression froze.
He turned to look at Klein.
Klein nodded, admitting to the act.
Horace took a deep breath and then slapped his thigh hard.
“You spendthrift!”
He pointed at Klein, his beard shaking.
“That was a Ninth-Circle scroll! Do you have any idea how hard it is to craft a Ninth-Circle offensive scroll?”
“The materials alone take half a year to prepare! And that’s not counting the success rate!”
“And you just gave it to her to throw around for fun?”
Klein remained stoic.
“It was for saving her life.”
“To save a life, couldn’t you use a teleportation scroll? Why did it have to be blasting?!”
Horace felt a pang in his heart.
“Using a Ninth-Circle blast in an enclosed underground space… you’re lucky you didn’t bury yourselves alive!”
“We did get buried,” Lia interjected.
“But we were dug out.”
Horace was choked for words.
He looked at this pair of calm mentor and student and suddenly felt that rushing over here in such a hurry was a waste of emotion.
One dared to give it, the other dared to throw it.
And after throwing it, they could still sit here drinking tea perfectly intact.
“Forget it.”
Horace shook his hands, looking exhausted.
“As long as people are alive.”
He picked up his teacup again, this time without disgust, and drained it in one gulp.
“However, regarding the Crying Moon…”
Horace set the cup down, his voice dropping low.
“This matter isn’t so simple.”
“I have seen records of this sect in the Council’s ancient archives.”
“They are a group of lunatics erased by history.”
“It is said that in the last era, they nearly succeeded in making the moon fall.”
Lia’s heart skipped a beat.
Making the moon fall?
That sounded even more terrifying than the advent of some evil god.
“Their appearance in Leo City this time might just be a probe.”
Horace looked at Lia.
“You ruined their business, and you used Ninth-Circle magic.”
“My aura is on the Heart of the Guardian.”
“They will hold a grudge.”
“Not just against you, but against me as well.”
The old man sneered, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
“But that’s fine.”
“This old man hasn’t seen action in a long time.”
“Since they dare to reach for my best student’s head, they shouldn’t blame me for not playing fair.”
Lia froze.
Student?
Though she had interacted with Horace, she had always officially been Klein’s apprentice.
Horace seemed to read her thoughts and teased her.
“What? Does being a student to me, a Ninth-Circle Archmage, wrong you?”
“Not at all,” Lia shook her head immediately.
This was a Ninth-Circle thigh; there was no reason not to grab it.
“That’s settled then.”
Horace stood up.
“Since you’re fine, I’ll be leaving.”
“So soon?”
“I have an experiment I haven’t finished yet.”
Horace straightened his mage robes.
“And I came by carriage this time; my bones are nearly falling apart.”
As he spoke, he looked at Klein.
“Kid, give me a lift.”
“Open a portal and send me straight back to the Capital’s Mage Tower.”
Klein stood up.
“Very well.”
He raised his hand, and a blue portal expanded in the center of the living room, causing a gust of wind.
Horace walked to the portal, stopped, and looked back at Lia.
“By the way, the energy in that necklace is empty.”
“When you have time to come to the Capital, I’ll recharge it for you.”
“Or…”
The old man gave a cunning smile.
“Let Klein recharge it for you.”
Having said that, he stepped directly into the portal before Lia could answer.
The portal closed.
Only Lia and Klein were left in the living room.
Lia touched the necklace at her neck.
“He came specifically to see you,” Klein suddenly spoke.
“I know.”
Lia smiled.
Though Horace claimed it was for the necklace and complained about the distance.
He hadn’t used teleportation to come here, most likely flying directly instead. As for the carriage, she would just take it as the old man talking nonsense—no carriage possessed such speed.
He wasn’t sure if the space here was stable, nor if Lia was still alive.
If Lia were dead, a rash teleportation might destroy the scene.
If Lia were alive but in danger, his arrival might trigger an even greater disaster.
So he chose the most reliable method.
And as soon as he saw Lia was fine, he left immediately.
He even made Klein send him back.
This showed he was actually very busy, yet he still made the time to make the trip.
“That old man is quite the tsundere,” Lia commented.
Klein glanced at her.
“Tsundere?”
“It means having a sharp tongue but a soft heart,” Lia explained.
Klein nodded thoughtfully.
“Get ready,” he said.
“Ready for what?”
Klein turned toward the stairs.
“To go to the City Lord’s manor.”
“To collect the bill.”
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